Laura Hamilton has opened up about her autoimmune disease as she shows off her bruised legs online.
The blonde bombshell, 42, first soared to fame when she appeared on A Place In The Sun back in 2002. Since then she has become the face of the Channel 5 property programme, known for her fashionable ensembles and bubbly personality.
But it hasn’t always been easy for the mum-of-two who recently revealed that she suffered from an autoimmune diesease called immune thromboyctopenia (otherwise known as ITP). The NHS defines ITP as a condition in which there is bruising or bleeding because there are fewer platelets in the blood than usual.
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It is usually caused by something going wrong with the immune system. ITP is not a genetic or inherited condition and affects approximately four in every 100,000 people.
(Image: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
On Sunday (June 9), the TV presenter took to her Instagram Story to show fans what the disease does to her body. Educating her 199,000 followers on the condition, the star shared a snap of her tanned legs which were covered in bruises.
She captioned the post: “This is ITP! Just a little flare up this week [three nervous emojis] But you won’t see it under my dress for filming! #itp #autoimmune #itpawareness.”
This isn’t the first time the reality star has opened up about the condition. Back in 2022, Laura spoke about battling the same disease that tragically took the life of her co-star Mark’s sister.
(Image: instagram/@laurahamiltontv)
She revealed: “I have something called ITP, Immune thrombocytopenia, which is low platelet count in my blood, it’s quite an unknown disease. It sort of flares up and down depending on what’s going on with my life, and stress often brings it out.
“It was really mad a year ago when I was filming A Place In The Sun with a lovely couple in France – Mark and Janine – and I just stood there and I had an insect bite on my leg and I started scratching it.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have done that because I’m gonna have bruises on my left from ITP’.” The TV favourite revealed that she had quite a bad flare up during her house build.
(Image: @laurahamiltontv/instagram)
Speaking at the time, she confessed: “Sometimes I do push myself a bit too hard and I will hold my hands up and say I’ve probably been doing that recently with my house build. My ITP has flared up so I want to take this opportunity to try and raise a bit of awareness about this autoimmune disease…
“ITP or Immune thrombocytopenia usually happens when your immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys platelets. It’s quite a common illness that children can have and grow out of, but adults can get it too.
“Just because you have ITP it doesn’t mean you can’t live a full life, achieving what you want. Three people in my family have auto immune diseases (all different kinds), and we all try to keep as positive as possible.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
